New Jersey will prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 as part of an effort to improve air quality and reduce planet-warming pollutants, officials announced Tuesday.
A rule that will take effect Jan. 1 commits the state to an eventual move toward zero-emission vehicles, the state Department of Environmental Protection said in a news release.
It is one of a growing number of states to do so, including California, Vermont, New York, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island, Maryland and Connecticut, according to Coltura, a Seattle-based nonprofit advocating for an end to gasoline vehicle use.
New Jersey will start limiting the amount of new gasoline-powered cars that can be sold in the state starting in 2027, eventually reaching zero in 2035.
It’s not a coincidence that the car lifestyle is so widespread in the USA - many (most) people really like it. I don’t think you’re ever going to see a lot of support for switching away from it, regardless of the condition of the environment.
Lots of people hate car culture but have no alternatives. Many people have never given alternatives a thought. Car culture is the water they swim in. And many people are reflexively conservative, and while they’ll defend car culture now if you pop them down in a walkable area they’ll defend that instead, because they just defend the current state.
Many people in the US have simply never lived a life where they don’t need a car. It’s pretty sweet.